Oh, how I love your law!
    I meditate on it all day long.  (Psalm 119)

The longest psalm is a paean to God’s law.  It extols God’s decrees, statutes and precepts; all synonyms for His commandments.

Law is the only state under which can humanity can dwell in profitable relationship with others.  A lawless state is anarchy in which few prosper and none have security.  In spiritual as in earthly matters, there is no difference.   God orders how He relates to his creation and, more to the point of this post, how humanity relates to Him.  To realise this as a blessing, as the psalmist, is to grasp an eternal truth.

So, in general terms, what is law?  

Law-giving is the preserve of the one with power or in control and it establishes and determines what is considered right from what is wrong, correct from false, good from bad or moral from immoral.  

It is the basis for communal interaction (individuals living alone do not need law – they are a law unto themselves.)

The need for law assumes that left to selfish desire, people will not do what is right; therefore, it exists to inform, alter and modify behaviour.

All law anticipates transgression/law-breaking and good law publishes clear sanctions (which, if just, is proportionate, applied without fear of favour and is therefore not cruel).  

God is the inventor of Law. The entire universe is governed by Law. From planetary motion to the essence of Life in all its abundant forms.

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…(Romans 1:20)

God is almighty; therefore, He declares His character and humanity’s standing in respect of him – via an individual, Moses, and thence to the nation of Israel:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5) 

And God elaborates thus:

 Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors,thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said. (ibid 6:13-19)

In this we see that God is acting unilaterally and non-consultatively, revealing that He is just and merciful, declaring Himself wroth at disobedience while promising reward for obedience.

God extended His offer of Law to all humanity through his Son, Jesus Christ.  The foundation is the same as the Mosaic Law.

…an expert in the law, tested (Jesus) with this question:‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’

Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. (Matthew 22:35-38)

Indeed, God’s law is outworked, completed and exemplified in Christ:

‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.’ (ibid 5:17-19)

Paul refers to the Law of Christ.  Paul a Jew, formerly subject to the Law of Moses says he is ‘not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law’ (1 Corinthians 9:21).

Thus, it is a mistake to think the law of Moses is simply superseded by the Law of Christ, for it is enfolded within it – as seen here.  Paul exalts the believers if Galatia to:

…carry each other’s burdens and in this way, you will fulfil the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

This, of course refers to the second greatest commandment, where Jesus reiterates the Law of Moses:

‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’  (Matthew 22:39 quoting Leviticus 19:18)

To the greatest commandments, Jesus adds the rider:

‘All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ (ibid 22:40)

Jesus is declaring that every single aspect of how his Father related to Israel is poured into and springs from these two simple instructions.

In this and other ways, Jesus establishes therefore his godly character:

 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

and therefore how all should relate to him, which again is observing his commandments.

 ‘If you love me, keep my commandments…’ (ibid 14:15)

(And given all are commanded to love God, this is an all-encompassing ordinance.)

Thus, Jesus offers a unifying Law, for those to whom God first gave law, Israel and to all other nations:

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. (Ephesians 2:14-18)

All now have the offer of redemption, through Jesus; even so, many reject God and his Annointed.

In the Anglo-Saxon period of English history – whence is derived the word ‘law’ (lagu) – the direst sanction for any that broke the law (such an infraction was called a synn) was to be declared an outcast.  This sanction is preserved in the word ‘outlaw’.  To be outlawed meant that a person was under no protection and could be abused with impunity.  The sense of this horror is contained in Cain’s petition after murdering Abel and learning the consequence:

Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’  (Genesis 4:13-14)

For those that reject God and the Gospel of Christ comes the punishment of outlawry. Hell is imagined in Cain’s punishment, but applied to the eternal realms.

This is why all should adopt the attitude of the psalmist in delighting that we are subject to God’s Law.  Only under its auspices can humanity relate to God and He to humanity; and without God there is no life, liberty or security, only death. The Law of God is therefore life-giving.

…here is the conclusion of the matter:
fear God and keep his commandments,
    for this is the duty of all mankind. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)